Crooked Apples
by gajelly
Summary: The brunette in the argyle sweater didn't even realize his worries turned to bricks until he sat with the man at that booth. But by then, the bricks crumbled to ashes. A ShuAke AU.
1. 9:04

"Hey, close up the store." In the coffee shop stood a black-haired man behind a counter, an old brew of coffee sitting to the right of him. Shelves stocked with dusty cans and withered plants lined the walls behind the barista. On the other side of the counter sat a tomcat on a stool with an interest in people-watching. He didn't even bother to chase the fly brushing past his nose.

The younger male looked up at the middle-aged man in pink, nodding. "Yeah, I can handle that." The manager took off his apron and hung it in the back, gave the cat a quick pat, and headed home for the night.

"Akira." The barista who was cleaning the counters with a ripped cloth and disinfectant peeked over to where the voice was coming from. Sitting at the booth in the back was a blond male around his age with college-level books scattered across the table. "You ready?"

"Almost, Ryuji. Just let me-" Akira's annoyed gaze shot to the chipped, wooden door as the bells chimed above it. "May I help you?"

At the entrance stood a man about the same-age as Akira-twenty-something-with chestnut hair to his shoulders and a gray peacoat. The customer found his way to a stool in the middle, his caramel eyes lined with dark circles. Upon closer observation, the exhausted man had hairs sticking up on the top of his head, and Akira lightened up. The thought of a customer arriving during closing hours typically irritated him, but Akira understood the circumstances.

Ryuji shot his friend a confused expression, to which Akira responded with a mouthing of words. "It'll be fine," or something like that.

"Coffee," the boy broke the silence, looking up at his sympathetic peer. "I just need coffee."

"Coming right up," Akira paused, not sure what to call him. The only people who sat in the coffee shop were regulars, which meant he was used to talking to customers on a personal level.

"Akechi. Goro Akechi." The black cat a couple stools over hopped to the one next to the new fellow, expecting attention. What the cat wanted, he got. He threw a quick smile to the cat as his eyes struggled to remain open.

Akira pushed his black-framed glasses up and made his way to the coffee machine, dumping out what was left in the pot. Akechi's eyes were still fixated on the barista. He noticed Akira had black eyes, the same color as his hair. They weren't a dark, broken color. The irises of his eyes were somehow warm and inviting, a complete hypocrisy. The man's hair was messy, much like his own. A few strays landed into his face, resulting in a puddle of dark hues.

Akira placed a cup of hot coffee in front of the brunette. Akechi realized he was staring too much and for far too long and before he knew it, the tip of his nose turned red. "Ah, sorry," Akechi apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. Ryuji glanced up at the two, observing them.

"Tough day?"

The boy nodded and took a quick sip of his coffee, careful to not let it burn his tongue.

Akira placed his hands on the counter and leaned forward. "Are you new around here?"

Akechi nodded once more. "I just moved in near here. My mom said she needed help around the house and I grew up in Tokyo, so I figured," he paused and reminded himself that he was talking to a complete stranger, "it was time to return, you know?"

"I see," Akira's face sunk as he made eye contact with the brunette. "So you're busy."

"Come again?"

Akira shook his head in hopes of being ignored. "That explains why you look-." He stopped himself mid-sentence. "I was just going to ask you to hang out with Ryuji and me sometime. You know, when you're free."

Akechi's lips curled into a smile. He wasn't used to people wanting him around. It wasn't exactly like people treated him badly or put him down, but he wasn't the best conversationalist. He was smart and motivated, but not fun.

"So, is that a yes?" Akira shifted his weight onto his left leg, placing his hands in his pockets. "I was just asking because you're new. I figured you'd need a friend or two." He peeked over at the cat from behind his bangs, smirking. "Or three."

"I would love that," he stopped, realizing he never received a name from either boy.

"Kurusu. Akira Kurusu." He pointed over to the boy who was pretending to study at a booth. In actuality, he was hiding his stares behind a book. "And that's Ryuji."

The blond, spiky-haired boy waved a few fingers in his direction. Akechi bowed to Ryuji in acknowledgment. "Tomorrow?" he shyly proposed with a blush scraping his cheeks.

"Tomorrow."

The customer quickly finished his cup and thanked his new friends as he made his way outside. Akira smiled and watched the man leave, but quickly realized he forgot something. He rushed out the door. "What the hell, dude?" Ryuji cursed.

He quickly made his way around the corner. "Akechi!" The brunette stopped in place and turned around, waiting for Akira to catch up to him. "I realized, I forgot to ask for your number." Akechi's cheeks turned red, causing Akira to stutter a few "uhs" and "I means." "Can't really make plans without it."

"Ah, yeah." The man fixed the collar on his peacoat and grabbed his phone from his back pocket. "My apologies, I have been rather busy so the technicalities must have slipped my mind." The two handed each other their phones and exchanged numbers. Once their phones were returned, Akechi faced the opposite way and continued on the path.

"Nice to meet you," Akira spoke under his breath, snow sprinkling the tips of his hair. Akechi shoved his hands in his coat pockets and smiled to himself, lightly biting his own lips.

The black-haired boy headed back to the store and grabbed the keys from the kitchen behind the counter. Ryuji gathered his books into his torn up backpack and met his friend at the door. Akira turned the open-and-closed sign around outside and locked the door, placing the keys under an empty, chipped flower pot.


	2. 7:43

Akechi laid on his bed, his hands layered with mucky dish water. He rested on his stomach and his head was shoved into his blankets on the opposite side from his pillow, clearly exhausted. His room was tidy, as if a neurotic had touched it, and empty. His bed sat on the very left of the room against a broken window. It would have opened up the room to the cold with light peaking through if it wasn't for the plastic trash bags sealing it. It was winter, after all.

His bed was normal. There wasn't a headboard or fancy sheets. Only one blanket and one pillow accompanied him, both plain white. Before Akechi had left the shop and made his way home, the presence of wrinkles on his comforter was almost non-existent.

To the wall opposite of his bed were three wooden shelves with a coat of beige paint, a few spots being chipped. The bottom shelf had nothing but a red canister with a few overly-used small pencils. The middle would have been empty if it weren't for the dust. On the top shelf, however, sat two model planes which remained from his childhood-one green and the other, a bright yellow.

The brown-haired boy's head poked up from the mattress to the sound of his phone vibrating next to his head. He checked the caller ID; it was a text from Kurusu. Before the boy even read the message, his position changed to flipping onto his back and his toes curled from excitement.

"Tomorrow at 6 PM good for you? Ryuji and I want to watch horror films."

Those two sentences were so simple, but to Akechi, they made his mind race. When somebody moves in to the neighborhood, it's custom to give them leftover lasagna or something. But some guy from some shop he happened to come across accidentally asked him to hang out with him and his friend. He thanked the gods of coincidental timing.

Akechi held his phone in both hands, contemplating on what to say. "Yeah, I'll be free. I can't wait," sounded good to him, so he went with that.

The black-haired boy threw his apron on and helped his boss prepare for business, his hair a lot cleaner than the day before. The two washed the used coffee cups they were too lazy to clean yesterday and prepared the coffee machine for the early-risers. And of course, Sojiro, the owner, had to shoo the cat off the counter for the thousandth time.

As the clock hit two after six, customers started arriving. A middle-aged man and an elderly woman were among them. "Hey, Sakura," the man greeted the barista behind the counter.

"Hey, Saito. How's it goin'?" Sojiro placed a hand on his hip as he continued yapping away. Before Akira knew it, his attention was drawn to more interesting things than small talk in a diner. His eyes shot towards the door each time the bells rang, only to be disappointed.

Sojiro raised his wrist to check the time and gave the boy a concerned look. "You feelin' alright?"

Akira realized someone had been standing in front of him, expecting her order to be taken. Akira quickly apologized and gave the lady extra doughnuts as a bonus.

"Something on your mind?"

"Yeah," he nodded, pushing his glasses up and shifting his weight to the side.

"Oh?" Sojiro cooed. "Is it a girl?" The older man possessed a hardy laugh.

Akira bit his lip and shook his head.

"No?" Sakura raised his eyebrows. "You've been staring at the door all day so, I figured..." The man lost his train of thought at the sight of a ringing at the door.

"Welcome," they both chimed in.

Akechi dressed himself in a grey polo shirt, resembling the color of the winter sky. Covering the shirt was a tricolor argyle sweater vest-black, white, and a different shade of grey than the polo. His eyes were less dark than the night before and his hair had been brushed since. He was a clean-freak and it showed in his wrinkleless khakis.

"Goro!" his mom called up to him from downstairs. Footsteps could be heard, so he waited to respond until she was peeking through the door, pretending to knock.

"Yes, mother?"

She gasped in delight, pointing at her grown son. "Where are you going today, Goro? You look so handsome! Handsome, handsome boy." She puckered her lips, playfully mocking Akechi. His lips curled into a smile and then grew into a small laugh. His mother turned her head to the side.

"I'm," he started, attempting to hide his blush behind a grin, "I'm going out with some friends."

"Friends?" She returned the smile, watching her son admire himself in his long black mirror hanging from the bedroom door. "You sure," she hesitated, "it's just a friend?"

He nodded, fixing his collar. He began to explain to her their meeting and Kurusu's kindness, to which she responded with excitement and support.

Akira and Ryuji sat on a bench covered with snow outside the movie theater. The cinema was clad with red lights, every other one burnt out. The only movies listed were a handful of horror films and one or two rom-coms. Ryuji was slouching with his hood barely covering his head. Akira's face was shoved into his palm, but he peeked threw his fingers and saw a pair of khaki pants with legs attached to them. "Hello, Kurusu," Akechi spoke as if he was reciting lines from a script. "Ryu-I'm sorry. I just realized, I didn't catch your surname."

Ryuji sat up and pushed his hood down. "Sakamoto."

"Ah," he cooed. "Sakamoto." A smile appeared on his face as he glanced at the black-haired boy again.

Akira focused in on the man in front of him. "You didn't come get coffee this morning."

The brunette gave a confused expression, which quickly turned to apologetic. "Yeah, I haven't been sleeping well so I let myself sleep in. I turned off all my alarms and before I knew it, noon had hit." Akechi wasn't completely being truthful. It's not exactly like he slept twelve hours that night, he just couldn't sleep. Excitement didn't really explain his insomnia. He was eager; he was fond of Akira and "the blond one." He knew that if he told the two the real reason, he'd just be given a few awkward laughs and he planned on avoiding that.

The three boys then made their way into the building, grabbed their tickets and snacks-Ryuji with too much popcorn, Akira with a bag of Cheetos, and Akechi accompanied by twizzlers-and headed to the assigned room. They slid through the door and parked themselves on to some seats in the third row from the front. Ryuji sat next to an overweight fella who smelled like microwaved butter. He bit back a gag. To the right of him sat Akira and his hand in his bag of cheetos. His other hand was placed on the arm rest to his right next to Akechi. Akechi fought himself not to grasp it. He thought the man's hand looked like it'd be firm and comforting. Now that he thought about it, a lot of Akira's aspects seemed comforting. His inviting smile often gave Akechi a sense of relief, as if years of rejection from anybody he had ever come across suddenly vanished.

Instead of focusing on Akira's jawline and wishing his fingers were laced with his own, the brunette tore into the bag of twizzlers as the movie began to roll. Ryuji reclined into his seat and threw his hands into his pockets. Akira mimicked his actions, but Akechi's posture remained upright.

In Goro's peripheral vision, Akira was periodically flinching. Akechi assumed the man's fear was due to the jump scares in the horror film. Chuckling, he continued nibbling his sugary snack. A few minutes passed and Akira flinched again. With a twizzler barely touching Akira's lower lip, he patted the man's shoulders. His attempts at comforting Akira worked because he replied with a smile and a casual stroke of the leg. Akechi's face lit up red. He could still feel the ghost of the noirette's hand as he lingered his own on the edge of his thigh.

Ryuji glanced up at the two, noticing Akechi skittishly targeting his own legs with a sheepish smile. The blond raised his eyebrows before leaning back into his seat, covered his eyes with his hoodie, and settled his feet onto the seat in front of him.

The credits eventually rolled and spectators fled the theaters like a mischief of rats. Ryuji cursed while waiting for his malodorous neighbor to exit the aisle, but once he did, the hooded boy thought he could hear angels singing. The three followed each other out of the theater and on to a sidewalk with shoveled piles of snow.

"You didn't seem scared," Akira noted, glancing at Akechi.

"No," he let out a playful chuckle, his face beaming. "But you did, Kurusu."

Akira's face turned red from embarrassment but still managed a smile. "I was not."

"Okay, okay," he surrendered, possessing a knowing-expression. "You weren't scared." Akechi smirked, but then grabbed his phone and looked at the time. "I have to be on my way," he said, disappointed. "I have a previous engagement."

"Alright," the black-haired man said, disappointed. "But, Akechi, you should come to the cafe tomorrow morning if you have time."

"Alright," he nodded happily. "I'll be there."

"Good, good," his voice trailed off, watching the man in front of him leave.

Ryuji slapped Akira's forearm, catching him off guard and pulling him from his thoughts. Akira gave the blond a confused look. "I felt awkward, dude! You can't just leave me hangin' as the third wheel." Ryuji raised his left eye at Akira's stuck expression. "Don't give me that look, dude! If you wanted to go on a date, you should have just gone alone with him."

Akira chuckled as his nose burnt red.

"Listen," his friend continued, "I'm happy if you're happy but don't put me through that kind of torture."

"Dramatic, are we?"

Ryuji shook his head. "Whatever, let's just get out of here."


	3. 12:47

Akechi sat on his usual stool at LeBlanc, accompanied by a friendly black cat who was well-deserving of a couple full-body pats. A cup of black coffee sat in front of him. "Mona." The chestnut-haired boy glanced up at the barista, his hand still planted on the bum of the tomcat. Akira's hair still rested in the usual way and his bangs still fell in their usual spot. But Akechi couldn't stop himself from staring at the same old Akira with the same olive-colored apron as the day before, covering his polo shirt dyed with onyx. His black pants were loose around the ankles but snug around the butt area. "His name's Mona." Akira leaned over the counter and grinned at the brunette.

"Oh," he started, giving him another pat. "Hello, Mona." The cat responded with a nudge against the arm. Akira smiled once he heard a laugh coming from Akechi. The man posessed a quiet chuckle, which didn't surprise Akira at all. He was a naturally quiet person, after all. What did surprise him, however, was the laugh seeming so rare. The two had known each other for merely three days and he hadn't even heard the brunette's chuckle a handful of times.

Akechi noticed Akira smiling at him, resulting in strokes of red covering their cheeks. "Hey, Akechi," he hesitantly spoke, "You want to hang out this Sunday?" He paused for a second, judging Akechi's expression. He began speaking again, but this time it was faster, "You see, I've got classes tomorrow. On Saturday, I work all day so that's the only day I'm really free this-"

"Sure," he cut the man off, grabbing his coffee and determining it was cool enough to drink.

The noirette's lips curled into a smile, letting out a sigh of relief. "My place?" Akira suggested. Akechi's eyes widened and his face burnt red. "I was thinking we'd play video games."

Throughout his childhood, Akechi had always studied. When he wasn't studying, he would make trips to the library. The librarians thought of him as a regular and even knew him by name. The boy even had a special spot he would sit, whether he was studying or emersing himself in a novel. Because of this, he was surprised when Akira had asked to play video games. Kids at school always played and some even slacked in school because of it. Akechi hadn't even recalled touching a controller of any kind before.

Akira's apartment was dim, but certainly not depressing. It was the type of dim where your eyelids fall and you find yourself asleep. His curtains were a dark red and covered the windows completely. On the right side of the apartment sat a navy blue couch with a glass coffee table sitting in front of it. On the left side sat his television, which was an old box-shape. Plugged into it was a black box he assumed to be a console. Akira grabbed a case with a blue hedgehog and a black one on the cover-Sonic Adventure 2. The two pulled a couple moon chairs over to the middle of the room, a black one and a tan one.

As they began playing, their arms continued to brush onto each other. Akechi's face turned to a bright red, causing Akira to glance over at the brunette and smile while looking back at the game. The touch of the noirette caused Akechi's heart to beat faster. He always found himself flustered and nervous. He wasn't nervous when talking to him; no, he was comfortable. But every once in awhile, just the thought of Akira caused his stomach to feel as if a tornado had made its territory in his abdomen. He didn't feel unsafe though. Akechi was used to not having anybody to give him comfort so he was confused at the feeling of relaxation and relief because of another human being.

Mona hopped down from the windowsill and plopped himself onto Akira's lap. He received a few pats from both boys. "He's jealous," Akira noted. "He's not used to anyone else being here."

Akechi let out a chuckle. "Yeah? Well, he's cute."

"Me or the cat?" Akira questioned half-jokingly, causing the brunette's expression to become flustered. "Relax, I'm joking." He glanced at the clock hanging from the wall in front of them. "It's almost one already."

Akechi's stomach growled. They decided to take a walk to a nearby fast food restaurant. On the way out the door, they ran into a lady in her fifties. She called out Kurusu's name.

"Yes, ma'am?"

She stood still and observed the two. "I'm surprised to see anyone here. Sakamoto doesn't even come here that often."

"Oh, sorry for not introducing you guys." He pointed, "This is Akechi. He's new around here. And this is," he paused, pointing to the lady in a ponytail and ugly plaid pencil skirt, "my landlord. We just call her Pearl."

"Pearl?" Akechi asked.

"Yeah," Pearl screached-or rather, laughed. "The guys all do that to gain brownie points. It started by them saying 'you're a pearl' and then it just morphed into that flatering nickname."

Akechi nodded in understanding.

"Well, it was nice meeting you. You seem like a sweet boy, but I actually have plans." She waved and the boys both said their goodbyes. "Bye-bye!"

They left the apartment building and walked side by side to the restaurant. When they arrived, they picked a booth and parked themselves right in front of each other. A waitress with blond hair and a single ponytail came and jotted their orders down on a notepad, leaving as quickly as she arrived.

Akechi softly smiled, planting his elbow on the table and his cheek landing in his palm. His eyes focused on the noirette. "May I ask you about yourself? I just realized, we know nothing about each other, Kurusu."

"Please," the man interupted, "Call me Akira."

Akechi's cheeks burnt to red. The waitress made her way back to their booth. A burger and a Coca Cola were placed in front of Akira, while Akechi settled for a water and a salad. He was a self-proclaimed health nut. "Okay, Akira," he continued, uninterrupted. "Tell me about yourself."

Akira inhaled a little bit and placed his thumb to the edge of his lips. "Well, there's nothing interesting, really."

"Really? Nothing?" He didn't believe that. Akira peaked his interest. He was nice and courteous, but he also appeared to be reserved. "I doubt that."

"Well, I've lived in Tokyo my whole life, I work at a coffee shop, and my only friend is Ryuji." Akira shook his head and took a bite from his burger as Akechi nibbled on his salad. "I mean, I make friends easily and I'm not very shy, but nobody really sticks, you know? Nobody else has really had that 'this is my best friend' vibe eminating from them."

Akechi nodded in agreement, his face sinking in the process. "No, I completely understand."

"So what about you?"

"What about," he paused for a second, confused, "me?" The idea of people caring about Akechi or wanting to hear what he had to say seemed foreign to the boy. When the spotlight was facing him, people usually interrupted him due to boredom. He thought it wasn't their fault, that he just never had any interesting stories to tell. All he could muster up were random facts nobody cared about.

"What about you, Akechi? What do you like to do for fun? What was your school life like?" Akira bombarded Akechi with question after question.

Akechi let out a huge sigh and explained to him that, for most of his life, it was just himself and his mother. He didn't really have any friends besides her. Home life was nice, but he found himself looking after his mother a lot. She had mental issues and never let that stop her from providing the best for her son. "We've always told each other everything. She's my only friend."

He searched for Akira's thoughts, his eyebrows raised. He expected sympathy, though he didn't want any of that. Instead, Akira smiled and broke the silence, "Sounds like a good deal to me." The brunette let out a sigh of relief. "Your mother cares about you, that much is clear." Akechi didn't know it, but Akira was well-aware of Akechi's reason for smiling. Akechi had never spoken about himself like that before. He didn't even realize his worries turned to bricks until he sat with Akira at that booth. But by then, the bricks crumbled to ashes. "Let's get out of here," the noirette insisted as he took his last bite of his burger. He waved to the waitress and paid for the two of them and they made their way back to the apartment.

Akira and Akechi plopped their bums on the couch after placing a disc into the DVD player. As the movie inched to the halfway point, Akechi's caramel eyes began to fall and his head slouched onto Akira's broad shoulders. The brunette's reaction was late but his head shot up and gave away a few apologies.

"No, no," Akira shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I don't mind." He scruffled the frazzled boy's hair and pulled him closer to his chest, resulting in two cherry noses.


	4. 8 AM

Akechi's eyes began to open. The air smelled of pine trees and apples. His eyes shifted to the clock above the television set. The brunette gave his eyes a quick rub and went to sit up, but to no avail. Akechi gasped, his thoughts piled with questions of the reason behind him being unable to move. His eyes widened as his face turned red. "Akira?!" he exclaimed.

Akira's eyes shot open at the noise, but his confused expression soon morphed into a gentle smile. Akechi's chest lay atop Akira's, all the while his arms gripped around Akechi's slender figure.

Akechi burried his face into the man's chest and mummbled, "What are you doing?"

"I should ask you the same thing," he smirked. "You're the one on top of me."

The brunette's eyes focused on the clock once more and quickly realized a whole night had passed. "Shouldn't you get ready for work?" His voice revealed hints of bewilderment. His second attempt to release himself from Akira's grasp failed.

"Relax, Goro."

 _Goro?_ Nobody ever called him by his first name except for his mother. He assumed most people didn't even bother to remember his full name.

Akira caught himself chuckling as Akechi's face remained still. "The old man won't kill me if I miss one measily day. And as for classes," he paused, making eye contact with the man pressed against him, "those don't start until the evening." The man pecked the blushing boy on the lips. He didn't plan it, it just sort of happened. His originally wanted to catch him off guard. Akechi's lips turned to silk as his eyes drifted shut, returning the kiss.

The chocolate-haired boy nuzzled the roof of his head into the noirette's cherry cheeks. Akechi's grin curled from ear to ear, but he hid the fact behind the heartbeat of the man who kissed him.

Akechi found himself squeezing Akira. Akira enjoyed the embrace, but was unaware of what it meant to Akechi. He wasn't used to any touch from a human being. He was used to his mother giving him hugs from time to time, as well as neighborhood stray cats rubbing up against his leg. But he wasn't used to _this_ -a touch from a person with an abundance of unconditional love to lend out. Though he wasn't familiar with butterfly kisses or the feel of another's hand on his own, they didn't feel foreign to Akechi either. The contact from the man felt normal, as if it was something that could-and should-happen on the daily.

Akira's fingers played with Akechi's tangled hair. The two recognized the sound of a cat from the windowsill. Mona hopped onto the floor and made his way to the couch. The noirette's other hand momentarily belonged to the feline, but his hand quickly made its way to the arched back covering him like a warm, fleece blanket.

Akira forced Akechi's head up so he could get a good look at him. His left hand cuffed the brunette's jawline as his eyes locked on to the caramel eyes in front of him. The tip of his fingers played with the underside of Akechi's hair.

Warm air brushed past Akechi's ears as Akira leaned in, their bodies heating up. "I like you."

And in that moment, the man made him feel like morning coffee. Akira gave Akechi what he never owned before, an un-mentioned feeling of "It's all going to be okay."


End file.
